Witness: A Bodyguard Romance is one of the many stories from the Choices: Stories You Play collection.
After witnessing a murder, you're sent to Nantucket with a U.S. Marshal sworn to protect you at all costs... Will you survive the summer without risking your life or your heart?
Witness: A Bodyguard Romance includes examples of:
- Allegedly Free Game: To a significantly worse degree than other Choices stories. Options that cost diamonds in Choices are usually for powerful weapons, clues, combat training, sex scenes, or outfits (though the latter two also show up in this one). Witness includes diamond choices for things like eating breakfast and treating a burn, in addition to multilayered sex scenes that end up costing twice as many diamonds as they normally do. Whenever speculation arises about Niamh’s cover, it is a premium option to successfully dispel suspicion, and most of the free choices end up making Niamh look like an ungrateful Jerkass. The most insane example is in Chapter 27, in which dodging a taser is a premium choice (meaning that if you don't spend diamonds, Niamh gets tasered and complains about it), whereas it would be a timed choice in just about any other story. Fortunately, while diamond choices still exist in Choices books to this day, no other book since has tried to replicate the system from Witness.
- Artistic License – Geography: People familiar with Nantucket, MA had an issue with the game's version. While there are scenic beaches, there are no mountains or hills. You also cannot see Boston from Nantucket.
- Big Bad:
- Killian and Maeve O' Connell form a Big Bad Duumvirate in the first half of the book. Together, they commit the murder that Niamh witnesses, forcing her to go into Witness Protection.
- After they are arrested, their daughter Aisling takes up the mantle, attempting to kill Niamh and Cassian for putting her parents in prison.
- Bodyguard Crush: The main plot of the story involves Niamh falling for Cassian, who is assigned to protect her.
- Bridal Carry: Male!Cassian does this to Niamh on the cover of the book.
- The Cameo:
- One of the couples in Chapter 6 is Isabelle and Santiago.
- In Chapter 16, the reporter asking Aisling about the parole hearing is Ellen Thompson.
- Character Customization: Besides deciding how Niamh looks, since the book tells you that there's only one love interest in this one, you decide on Cassian's race and hairstyle as well as their gender. Notably, this is the first Choices book that allows you to mix and match a love interest's face and hairstyle.
- Commitment Issues: Niamh is terrified of the thought of falling in love.
- Content Warnings: The book opens with a warning that the story contains mature content.
- Daddy's Little Villain: Aisling O’Connell, who is every bit as cruel as her parents. Chapter 14 reveals that Killian plans on having her kill Niamh for revenge.
- Evil Redhead: Maeve O'Connell, a vicious gangster who Niamh witnesses stab a man to death with her husband.
- Fighting Irish: Regardless of gender, Cassian is very much Irish down to the accent and even throwing out Gaelic.
- Hello, [Insert Name Here]: As with all Choices, you can name your character, with her default name being Niamh. Once she goes into witness protection, she gets to choose a new name, with the default being Newbury Russo.
- Hollywood New England: The story starts off in Boston before shifting its setting to Nantucket.
- Hotter and Sexier: The first chapter establishes that the story will be steamier than Choices' usual standard, with Niamh and Cassian having bondage games and the sex being described in a bit more detail than normal. This is also the very first book to be rated Mature due to this.
- The Irish Mob: The two killers in the opening chapters are Killian and Maeve O'Connell, who control the Irish mob after killing Sean Kelly, their last opposition.
- Jerkass Has a Point: While Niamh has a tendency to get angry too quickly, especially when you don't spend diamonds, she has the option to get justifiably angry when she finds out that Cassian has worked against the O'Connells before because it would blow her cover if they saw them.
- Kinky Cuffs: Two premium choices in your first sex scene with Cassian allow Niamh to cuff them to the bed or vice versa.
- Leave No Witnesses: The O’Connells ensure there are no witnesses to testify against them, which increases their vendetta against Niamh when she survives to testify against them.
- MacGyvering: In Chapter 27, Aisling creates a bomb out of a compass.
- Meaningful Name: One of the Irish mobsters who murders a man in cold blood at the start of the story is named "Killian".
- Must Have Caffeine: One of the things Niamh can tell Cassian about her morning routine is not to bother her until she's had coffee.
- National Stereotypes: All members of the Irish mob wear green, have a shamrock on their clothing, and all female members have red hair. Counts as Oireland.
- Really Gets Around: Niamh. This is how she first meets Cassian.Harika: You can’t keep hooking up with random guys/girls without catching feelings!Niamh: Watch me. There’s no shortage of willing bodies in this city.
- Rich Bitch: Niamh, a spoiled and abrasive woman who has grown up with wealthy parents and has a lucrative career in finance.
- Secret-Keeper: Niamh becomes this for Cassian in Chapter 2 if she slept with them since if it's revealed they had sex, Cassian would be pulled off the case for being compromised.
- Shout-Out:
- During your first romance scene with Cassian, taking the premium choice to have them strip gives the "Shape of You" achievement.
- In Chapter 4 if you pay diamonds to have Cassian teach you to shuck crabs, you get the "Rock Lobster" achievement.
- Significant Green-Eyed Redhead: A female Cassian will always have green eyes regardless of race, though you can give her red hair.
- Skinny Dipping: A premium scene in Chapter 6 allows Niamh and Cassian to go skinny dipping.
- Spoiled Brat: Due to having wealthy mob bosses for parents, Aisling is accustomed to getting everything she wants. She even throws a tantrum when Niamh tells her she can’t have the gold compass, which is an artifact that’s part of the museuem exhibit (and explicitly not for sale).
- Time Skip: The second half takes place two years after the first.
- Unholy Matrimony: Killian and Maeve are a married couple and are vicious Irish mobsters.
- Wig, Dress, Accent: There are premium choices in Chapter 2 for Niamh to buy not only a new dress, but also dye her hair as part of her new identity in witness protection.
- Witness Protection: A central part of the story. Niamh has to go into witness protection after witnessing a murder at the start of the story.
- Why Won't You Die?: Aisling shouts this while attempting to kill Cassian one last time after all the previous attempts on their and Niamh's lives failed.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Chapter 3 has Niamh find that her cover job is at a lobster shack, a job which involves knives after seeing someone get killed by one.
